EURO BRIEFS
EURO BRIEFS
• EU farm spending is expected to rise by 1.9% to k45.1bn (£25.2bn) in 2003, according to latest Brussels proposals. The increase is due to extra rural development expenditure and the shift from price to direct income support. But the total is still k2.3bn (£1.4bn) below the Agenda 2000 ceiling, leaving room for unplanned emergency spending.
• BRUSSELS plans to allow farmers in new member countries access to 25% direct payments from the year they join have been criticised by current net contributors to the EU budget, namely the UK, Germany, Sweden and Holland. But farm commissioner Franz Fischler insists the negotiations will still be completed by the end of the year.
• THEEuropean Court has told Italian food processors that designated origin status only applies to the production of quality regional foods like Parma ham and Grana Padano cheese, and not to the slicing and packaging. The manufacturers had sued supermarket group Asda and importer Hygrade Foods for further processing Parma ham in the UK.
• IRISH sheep farmers are being advised not to accept charges from meat factories for testing their animals under the new national scrapie plan. Irish Farmers Association sheep chairman Laurence Fallon says he has assurances from the Irish Meat Association there will not be an industry levy and that the government is paying the cost of tests.
• BELGIUM has turned down a request by Aventis CropScience for a licence to run GMO field trials of a herbicide resistant oilseed rape, reports Reuters. It quotes a health ministry statement that says bees can transport pollen over 4km, posing a threat to conventional crops.
• FRENCH land prices increased by over 7% in 2001, according to figures from the national land federation. With less land coming to market and strong interest from institutional buyers, average values came close to k4000/ha (£2460/ha), says national magazine La France Agricole. *